


a dragon lives forever (but not so little boys)

by orphan_account



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: "Puff the Magic Dragon", Angst, Canonical Character Death, Gen, Oneshot, Songfic, but no fluff, here be dragons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:28:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26234908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Lu Ten and Iroh. Iroh loves his son, and you should read the title before committing to this story.
Relationships: Iroh & Lu Ten
Comments: 13
Kudos: 44





	a dragon lives forever (but not so little boys)

_ Puff, the magic dragon, lived by the sea, _

_ And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honali, _

The first time Iroh holds Lu Ten he cries.

The joyous tears trickle down his face, and sparkle in the light of the setting sun, and Lu Ten stops crying to stare at him curiously, pulling one of his tiny fists free of the blanket to pat at Iroh’s cheek. Lu Ten hasn’t cried at all, wide eyes twinkle up at Iroh from the little bundle in his arms, and Iroh’s chest is tight—

He’s perfect.

The physician comes in not too long after, face solemn and still, delivering his bad news in a hushed and sympathetic tone. Songa died of blood loss, and Iroh hadn’t been there for her. She had died, and she hadn’t even had the chance to hold their son. Her son.

Iroh will have to raise her perfect son alone. 

He holds Lu Ten close, and promises, lips pressed to the top of his baby soft head, “My little dragon, I will give you the world if you ask it.” He knows he would die for his son.

His perfect son, who holds Iroh’s heart in his small, small hands.

_ Little Jackie Paper loved that rascal Puff, _

_ And brought him strings and sealing wax and other fancy stuff, _

Lu Ten completes his kata, kicking and punching across the courtyard, and fire billows around his fist. “Daddy, look! I did it, I did it!”

Iroh claps, and stands up, scooping his son up into his arms, beaming with pride. Lu Ten is getting bigger, he won’t be able to do this for much longer. He’ll savor it while it lasts.

“I am so proud of you, Lu Ten. You will be a great firebender one day— I can tell. And a dragon is never wrong.” His son laughs, and squirms in his arms when Iroh pokes him.

“Dad, come on, let’s go play. You said we could play after I finished practice—” Iroh swings Lu Ten up onto his shoulders.

“And we will, we will. But first, my little dragon, you need to have some lunch! A growing boy needs food.” They leave together, Lu Ten holding Iroh’s hands tightly.

Lu Ten’s giggles linger in the courtyard long after they leave.

_ Together they would travel on a boat with billowed sail, _

_ Jackie kept a lookout perched on Puff's gigantic tail, _

_ Noble kings and princes would bow whene'er they came, _

_ Pirate ships would lower their flags when Puff roared out his name, _

“Father.”

Iroh looks up from his desk, and over the reams of scrolls that cover it. Lu Ten stands there, awkwardly, hands clasped behind his back. His son was grown now, a tall and strapping young man. He could no more pick up Lu Ten than he could Songa—both were fanciful wishes, lost to the mist of dreams and memories.   
  


“Come in, sit down.” He moved to awkwardly shuffle some of the documents on the desk to the side, so that he could better see Lu Ten. Lu Ten, who just shakes his head, the corner of his mouth quirked up in the smallest hint at a smile at Iroh’s fumbling. Lu Ten, who then comes in to help clear a space— and how did those scrolls wind up in the  _ chair _ , rather than on his desk where they belong?

“Dad,” Iroh looks back up at his son. “I have something important to tell you.” Lu Ten sets down the papers that he’s holding, and clasps his hands behind his back again, shifting nervously from foot to foot.

“I’ve enlisted.” And Iroh’s heart leaps in his chest. He’s thrilled that his son has chosen to follow in his footsteps. So he reaches out, and pulls Lu Ten close, and whispers into his son’s hair.

“I’m so proud of you, my little dragon.”

_ A dragon lives forever, but not so little boys, _

When Iroh hears the report, his world shatters. 

_ One gray night it happened, Jackie Paper came no more, _

Lu Ten is dead. 

_ And Puff, that mighty dragon, he ceased his fearless roar, _

Iroh calls off the siege.

_ His head was bent in sorrow, green scales fell like rain, _

_ Puff no longer went to play along the cherry lane, _

_ Without his lifelong friend, Puff could not be brave, _

_ So Puff, that mighty dragon, sadly slipped into his cave, _

Iroh returns home alone.

Iroh returns home alone, his fire and passion a cold ball of ash in his heart. Each day passes in a haze of cold silence. He doesn’t leave his quarters once during the voyage back to the Fire Nation.

Iroh returns home alone, arriving only to discover that his younger brother has stolen the throne out from under him, has used Iroh’s tragedy for his own gain, has killed their father over a throne that Iroh no longer cares about. Ozai seems triumphant when he returns home, a broken shell of the man who had left. Ozai had always wanted to be a dragon slayer.

Iroh retreats from public life, a dragon defeated.

He later swears, after one drink too many with the other White Lotus members, that his heart had stopped for a moment after hearing the report. His heart knew, in that moment, on that day, that the sole reason it had continued to beat was lying dead, crushed under the rubble of Ba Sing Se’s outer wall.

For two years and three months, Iroh wishes that his heart had known to stop for good that day. He doesn’t know why it continued to beat on—he has already lost everything. He has nothing left to live for.

Then he watches Ozai raise his hand in an act of unspeakable cruelty, looks away, and discovers the reason his heart had gone on beating that day.

_ Oh, Puff the magic dragon lived by the sea, _

_ And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honali, _


End file.
